As soon as we had closed the house and gardens to the public at the end of October, we were in a great tizz to catch up on a mountain of autumn work. First, the frost-tender stuff had to be housed - begonias, succulents and much else. Then the meadow areas were given a last, close cut, so that they would be all spruce and ready when the bulbs pushed through; some have already started to do so. Most testing and complex (because we have such a lot of it), we have been bedding out in readiness for spring.

For this, we used a lot of perennials, as well as obvious biennials such as forget-me-nots, pansies and wallflowers. You may care to try some of them next year; start gathering ideas when you go through the seed catalogues.

Carnations are excellent, particularly the Florestan strain. Sow in early spring (they germinate at quite low temperatures), line out for the summer and bed out next autumn for the following summer, interplanting with tulips. Carnation foliage makes a good background for red tulips. Dianthus, sweet-smelling pinks, are also good treated this way; I like Thompson & Morgan's Sonata strain. Or there's Dianthus 'Rainbow Loveliness', with shaggy single flowers and a scent on the air you wouldn't have believed possible. Sow July-August, overwinter in pots under cold glass and plant out in spring to flower May-June.

Doronicums (leopard's bane), with their cheerful yellow daisies in April-May, are good in partial shade. Chiltern Seeds has Doronicum caucasicum 'Magnificum'. Sow in April, grow the plants on during the summer and bed them in autumn, interplanting with white tulips or, perhaps, 'Shirley', white with a mauve rim.

We use aquilegias year after year, cutting them back when they have flowered, removing them to purdah, where they can spend the summer unseen and bringing them back in autumn. You could interplant with Dutch bulbous irises.

We are currently using the Gallery seed strain of lupins. Sown in summer, we bedded them out last month, interplanted with tall, late red tulips. Lupin foliage makes an admirable background for them. Come July, lupins are thrown out and dahlias or cannas replace them.

Silene dioica 'Flore Pleno' is the double version of our wild pinky-red campion. We keep that from year to year, dividing it when necessary and transferring it to a shady spot for the summer. It flowers in May and we interplant with Allium hollandicum 'Purple Sensation', whose flowering coincides at the metre-high level.

Much earlier is Bergenia stracheyi , a low, neat-leaved species with brightest pink flowers in April. It does not at all object to being moved to and fro and looks lovely with aubrietia, although I find the timing of that a bit tricky, from seed. A yellow jonquil, not too overpowering and muscular, goes well with the bergenia, too. The key is never to think of plants in isolation, but always in some combination. That's where the art of gardening comes in.